TG4 to unveil player app with Chromecast

Tigerandahalf

Looks like TG4 are leading the way with a very well featured app coming out soon.

https://www.8bytes.ie/projects/tg4/

Maybe this is old news to some but said I would put it up.

Kerry_2008

That's great news. They are probably the best of the Irish stations

FRIENDO

Will it work on Android, if not it will be a load of crap

Tigerandahalf

FRIENDO wrote: »

Will it work on Android, if not it will be a load of crap

If you read the link it seems to have both android and iphone/ipad. Android is the dominant platform now I would think.

lertsnim

Let's wait until it launches before we throw praise at it.

Tigerandahalf

It will be very interesting to see if the streams are in HD. If that is the case a lot of saorview viwers could be able to chromecast instead of watching it in SD on the tv.

FRIENDO

Tigerandahalf wrote:

It will be very interesting to see if the streams are in HD. If that is the case a lot of saorview viwers could be able to chromecast instead of watching it in SD on the tv.

I would imagine the app would also be installed on the new saorview connect stb on its arrival

Tigerandahalf

FRIENDO wrote: »

I would imagine the app would also be installed on the new saorview connect stb on its arrival

I guess there will be options for lots of apps to be added to the box.

You would wonder where this will place Saorview and the carriage of non HD channels if a HD stream is available.

As far as I know TG4 is in HD on non HD packages on Sky. Crazy that it is not in HD on Saorview when it carries so much live sport and is publically funded.

PabloAndRoy

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

If you read the link it seems to have both android and iphone/ipad. Android is the dominant platform now I would think.

I read the article and it is pretty clear that this is an iOS only app. All the language used is about Universal iOS app features ... Not Android.

PabloAndRoy

FRIENDO wrote: »

I would imagine the app would also be installed on the new saorview connect stb on its arrival

This particular app will not be on the Saorview Connect thing. Possibly some app will be, but it isn't the one in this link.

Tigerandahalf

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

I read the article and it is pretty clear that this is an iOS only app. All the language used is about Universal iOS app features ... Not Android.

Look at the very top.
It has links for Iphone/Android/api

PabloAndRoy

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Look at the very top.
It has links for Iphone/Android/apk

I asked them via their chat box and they replied "Android in the future" but no idea of timeframe ...

Tigerandahalf

The text is definitely more iOS related. I guess that will come out first. But again the vast majority of people are on the android platform these days no?

FRIENDO

PabloAndRoy wrote:

I asked them via their chat box and they replied "Android in the future" but no idea of timeframe ...

I can't understand why they don't have android already, another disappointment from TG4

PabloAndRoy

I gave the iOS app a run this morning and can confirm that Chromecast works. Both Live and catch up work on Chromecast. Both are in SD.

Doodah7

FRIENDO wrote: »

I can't understand why they don't have android already, another disappointment from TG4

I would say it is mainly because when programming for iOS, you only have to worry about compatibility with one version of the firmware. With Android, you have to deal with what? seven or eight different flavours of Android on hundreds of different types of device? Must be a headwreck to deal with.

Rolling out iOS first allows all of the UI and performance issues to be tweaked in a stable environment with one operating system and a limited number of device types.

Popularity doesn't come into it. This of course ignores the irony of Google making both Android and the Chromecast product...

Tigerandahalf

What sort of money does it cost for the product to have Chromecast? Do Google charge a fee per app or what?

PabloAndRoy

tallpaul wrote: »

I would say it is mainly because when programming for iOS, you only have to worry about compatibility with one version of the firmware. With Android, you have to deal with what? seven or eight different flavours of Android on hundreds of different types of device? Must be a headwreck to deal with.

I have developed for both of these platforms and it is not really an issue that there are many different android versions and devices. You can set the minimum and maximum version of Android your app will support. If you try to do something that the minimum version will not support, then Android studio will not let you build the app. Its not actually a problem. No headwreck at all.

Similarly I have had to insert code into iOS apps that are needed because there is a specific bug in a specific version of iOS on a specific device. I have also seen this issue on Android.

tallpaul wrote: »

Rolling out iOS first allows all of the UI and performance issues to be tweaked in a stable environment with one operating system and a limited number of device types.

Popularity doesn't come into it. This of course ignores the irony of Google making both Android and the Chromecast product...

The GUI frameworks are entirely unrelated so this is not really the case. So rolling out on one platform does not make it easier to roll out for the other platform. The same goes for performance issues. Good design can mitigate against performance issues. Generally good design is platform agnostic.

The idea that iOS is a stable environment and that Andorid is not is not true. Both are stable.

Personally I prefer developing for Android... the reasons are due to both personal preferences and technical. If you are developing for a third party client, whichever the client wants first is what will be built first. Ideally you have dedicated teams for each platform and you release in parallel.

Tigerandahalf

Any word on this being released on android?

Tigerandahalf

Android app launched with chromecast.
Looks like it is in hd (or 720p).

lertsnim

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Android app launched with chromecast.
Looks like it is in hd (or 720p).

If only RTÉ would pull the finger out for android users.